The present invention relates to a training device for hitting a ball and in particular, to a device for improving the hitting of a baseball and softball and its method of use.
Baseball is the prime example of hitting a ball with a bat. It is also known as the national pastime of the United Sates and other countries such as Cuba and Venezuela. To the random player or observer, it seems elusively easy to play. It employs nine positioned men who bat in sequence; a batter whose function is to hit the ball; an approximate 2xc2xd inch ball or 3-6 inch softball is thrown to the batter with an art preventing the batter from successfully hitting the ball. While a certain degree of innate skill is required for each of the players at their respective positions, the great attribute to fine playing is a learned skill, namely how best to hit the baseball or softball. As the ball must travel more or less accurately within the bounds of the playing field while avoiding being caught, this skill is most difficult.
It has been found that great accuracy and power results when the bat strikes the ball at the thickest part of the bat, commonly called the xe2x80x9csweet spotxe2x80x9d and along the longitudinal axis of the bat. Should the bat knob be improperly aligned or should the bat axis be angled or inclined away from the optimum position, the ball slices, curves and takes an errant trajectory in its course. During play, no extraneous device, helper or aid may be used and all skills must be learned before the player gets on the field. Thus, the skills the player must use to hit a safe ball must be learned and must become second nature to him in order for him to be a good player.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a training device enabling a baseball/softball player to become more proficient in hitting.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a hitting device which is as close in construction and use as the bat employed by the hitter during actual play and which employs the basic technique of hitting, so that the technique becomes second nature to the hitter rather than merely a temporary aid in hitting.
Further, objects and advantages are set forth in the following disclosure.
In the present invention, a bat, constructed generally of the shape, weight and material usually used and formed for the batter is employed. In addition to the features common with those used by the batter, the inventive bat is provided so as to have a small diameter stream of light extend through the central axis from one end to the other. The formation of the light stream emitting out the knob end of the bat will allow the batter to correctly align the knob of the bat with the ball during the initial movement of a swing. The batter and his/her coach will then be able to determine if there are errors in the player""s angular position of the bat relative to the ball.
Preferably, the stream of light is provided through the use of a fiber optic lens such as a fiber glass thread, powered by a small switch operated by a battery housed within the bat.
In addition to the axial directed light, the bat may include one or more streams of subsidiary lights each extending in a curved direction from the axial directed to a point on the peripheral surface of the bat are paired and spaced axially along the xe2x80x9csweet spotxe2x80x9d, thereby allowing the batter to optimally correct the bat""s xe2x80x9csweet spotxe2x80x9d with the ball.
Full details of the present invention are set forth in the following description and in the attached drawings.